Emergency alert messages can be provided via the Short Message Service (SMS) system. Emergency alert messages are not personalized and contain the same content for all subscribers. SMS messages are sent to a subscriber regardless of the current location of the subscriber. Thus, an SMS based alert message could be sent to a subscriber even if the subscriber is not in the alert area. The SMS system does not posses the capability to tailor delivery to specific geographic areas or to specific list of subscribers. Further, the SMS system does not posses the capability to send messages to roamers (a subscriber in a network other than the subscriber's home network). In a typical SMS system, the originator of the alert message creates the same SMS based message for each individual subscriber. The same alert messages are then sent to the wireless operator's SMS Center (SMSC) for delivery to each subscriber. Routing the same alert message for each subscriber in this way is inefficient use of resources and time consuming. These inefficiencies can be especially exacerbating during time of emergency.